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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24629752">A Quiet Redemption</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrahminRadarin/pseuds/GrahminRadarin'>GrahminRadarin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Metal Gear</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Afterlife, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Flashbacks, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Redemption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:36:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,302</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24629752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrahminRadarin/pseuds/GrahminRadarin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Venom is killed in Outer Heaven and, after an unexpected welcome to the afterlife, is prepared to face punishment for his sins. His friend's dad thinks otherwise. Snake dies oneshot.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Quiet/Venom Snake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Quiet Redemption</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>Snake had thought he knew pain. He'd been shot. He'd been stabbed. He'd stabbed himself. He had even burned. Nothing could ever have prepared him for this. His leg was gone. He couldn't hear, not even ringing. His vision had gone gray. He couldn't even feel the phantom pain, but he could feel the rib fragments in his lungs. Why was he not dead yet? He should be. Maybe it took time. He could wait.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>HWSHHH-FWOMP</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>HWSHHH-FWOMP</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>HWSHHHH-FWOMP</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door slid open. Maybe the kid came back to finish the job. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just like his old man, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Snake thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span> Just like me. No… He's different. He's better than that. He has to be.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>The woman stood in the door, silhouetted by the destroyed remains of the TX-55. Why he had ever built that thing, he didn't know.   She gasped the smallest bit. Just enough to notice. He had only ever known one person who could say so much with so little. She crouched next to him, looking him over. He tried to smile.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>"Wasn't expecting you. I would have dressed better."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Quiet stopped and looked at his face. She ruefully shook her head, then picked him up in a bridal carry. The soldier in him said to stop her, prevent further internal damage. He ignored it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>She walked slowly to the elevator, waiting for it to come back down. When they were outside, she laid him down in a field of white Stars-of-Bethlehem, though they might be red. He couldn't tell. Behind them, Outer Heaven flashed once, twice, and then there was nothing but rubble and smoke. The only survivors would be from the combat deployment. He deserved to die there, not them. Quiet took out a radio. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Weird. She can't use it… </span>
  </em>
  <span>Snake remembered the last time she had. Had it really only been ten years?</span>
</p><p><span>"</span><span>No, please… Don't," </span><span>he wheezed.</span> <span>He reached for her, heedless of his dislocated shoulder. "</span><span>Not again. Just let me die…" </span><span>He let his arm fall. She looked at him, scoffed, and hit the talk button. There was a squelch. She said nothing.</span></p><p>
  
  <span>When she let go, he heard another reminder of his past. His past saving the world from deformed villains, saving lives. Not taking them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was too tired to be confused now. He wished the hallucination would end and let him die already. He would face his judgement willingly, if he could get to it. Before he could, he heard rotors. Rotors, and one of his favorite voices over the radio. The voice that meant he was done, that he had won. The voice that said he could go home. The voice he had lost when his home became the battlefield.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This is Pequod, on station at LZ! It's good to see you again, Boss!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He blinked, slowly. It was bright outside, probably noon. His head hurt. He remembered another awakening, 10 years ago, before all this. That had been a nightmare. Demons, death, being hunted. This would probably be much the same.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He turned his head. She noticed. He looked at Quiet, and Quiet looked at him. He remembered sharing that look so many times. In the ACC. Through binoculars on the battlefield. Even at Mother Base. They had seen each other far more than they looked for each other. Even when he could only see a green laser hovering, she could always see him. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Pequod interrupted about when they expected him to. He made good conversation and great music, but he never had any sense of when he interrupted. He probably didn't worry about it because half his job was saving Snake from a tank with a missile salvo, and there wasn't much time to think about social etiquette.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>"Is he awake yet?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sounded chipper, as usual. Quiet hummed in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pequod said "You know I'm never going to figure out what that means, don't you?" He sighed. "I'll just assume that means yes. We're all so glad to have you back, Boss. It's been hard without you and Commander Miller and Commander Ocelot. We've managed somehow. We've got a new platform brewing. Mosquito even came back!"</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Snake tuned out the rest of Peaqoud's speech. He looked around at the photos on the walls, and remembered why he had missed this. He never deserved something this good. He had always thought they deserved a better leader, better than a borderline war criminal who couldn't remember his own name.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Quiet touched his shoulder. He looked at her and allowed himself a small moment of guilt-free joy, then started being the world's greatest soldier again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Pequod, where are we?" he rasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Seychelles waters, of course! Did you think Mother Base had moved? We're almost there, actually."</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Quiet helped him sit up, then got up herself and opened the door. She leaned out like she didn't have a care in the world, and Snake finally noticed: her rifle was gone. He was amazed she could even take off her back when she left her cell. He hobbled over to the door, noting that he had both legs again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just how Kaz never will. Where did he get to over the years, I wonder?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Slowly, like an old man, he clipped himself in and sat, just like the old days. He hadn't left the base in years, and it had been longer since he did it by chopper. He chuckled at himself. His amusement quickly turned to shock as he beheld Mother Base in all its safety-orange glory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is this real?" he whispered to himself. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded anyways, even though she couldn't hear him. Snake had never seen Quiet smile before, not a big, dopey grin like this. Pequod swung around the Medical Platform and followed the walkway in. There was nobody to be seen. Snake tensed and reached for his trusty AM MRS-4, only to  find the comforting weight on his hip gone. His pistol holster was empty, too. He didn't know why he expected to have them. Before he could look for the door gun, the helipad came into view. Snake forced himself to relax when he saw all of Diamond Dogs gathered in parade formation there. The men he had killed to prevent the parasite's spread, whose ashes he had turned to diamonds, were standing in front, along with his old, loyal MSF comrades. He resigned himself to his fate. Now he knew why he didn't have his guns, it wouldn't make sense for the damned to defend themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Pequod took her in slow, and then let the two of them hop off before landing and coming around to look at him. Snake walked forward and threw his arms wide, inviting them to start. He closed his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>There was a commotion. He assumed they were arguing over who would get him first. Someone tackled him. He let it happen, restrained the instincts that screamed to fight. He deserved this, he would not fight it.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He was being licked. This… was an odd way to start. He opened his eyes, and sitting on his chest was DD. There was no malice in his eyes, only love from a dog for its owner. He raised a hand and caressed DD's head in disbelief. Komodo Dragon spoke first.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>"Boss? Are you alright?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scratching behind DD's ears, Snake whispered a silent prayer to whoever had understood his life, how he had not wanted to be this man, how he had been forced into all of this.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He stood up, picked up DD, and said "I think so. I think so."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Far away, on the banks of a long forgotten river deep in Tselinoyarsk, he was heard. The Sorrow always paid his dues. He unfolded his legs, stood, and walked away, hand-in-hand with the love of his life.</span>
</p><p> </p>
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